Oh Where, Oh Where

has the summer gone?

September already!
The days are warm, and the nights cool.
Open window weather.
I love it!Fall is definitely on the way.

The reason for my long absence from blog land
is "all Shirley's fault".
My dear friend, from CA, came for a visit.
We went to high school together,
back in the covered wagon days.
Her nine day visit went by so fast.
Most of it was spent rocking on the porch,
sipping sweet tea, reminiscing.

Here she is loving "Sweet Bogey".
Bogey is our grand dog.
He is spending some time at PaPa & Grandma's house
until baby Piper gets older.
We had to make a trip out to the Apple Butter House!
Here junkin pal Kellie and owner Caroline are with Shirley
hamming it up for me.

Shirley is a wonderful-wonderful cook.
She cooked her little heart out in my kitchen.
Chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes with creamy gravy,
fresh green beans with bacon.
Steak flambeau, (intentional fire in my kitchen)
twice stuffed potatoes, steamed veggies.
And, of course, farm fresh sweet corn at every meal.
I swear we gained 10 lbs....each!

Here is her tasty Mexican Stuffed Shells.
(I forgot to add 1 pkg of manicotti shells to the recipe copy).
It was so-so good. Give it a try.

Click on the image to enlarge for easier reading.
Love this line of fabric...Flower Sugar by Lecien !
So summery and bright.
We each pieced a Turning Twenty Again quilt this week.
A sweet reminder of her WI visit.


QUILT SHOW TIME!

Love the Fall colors and raw edge applique.


Would you look at this cute table runner!

The cake & presents are adorable!
So fun to quilt.


The latest picture of my grandbabies.
They're growing up so fast.
Our oldest is a teenager. Eeek.
Dustin (#3) is missing from this photo.
(He was home sick).


Hope this finds you healthy & happy!
I won't stay away so long next time, I promise.

Lots to blog about

Is your coffee cup or ice tea glass full?
I've been MIA for 2 weeks and
I have soooo much to tell ya.
It's gonna take a minute....

First, I spend 3 days in Milwaukee taking
longarm quilting
classes and drooling over the spectacular quilt show.
There was so much talent gathered in one spot!
I wish I could have bottled it up to take home.
Now, if I can just remember half of what I learned.
I'll have a few customer quilts later in the week to show you.
I've been busy.

When I get tired quilting on my longarm machine,
I sit and piece for awhile.
A little time here and there really adds up.

Don't ya just love this pink & brown combo?
Each of the squares are 1 inch finished.
I made my border a tad larger for the letters.
Hmmm, they look alittle wonky, don't they?
I'm sure the quilter will be able to fix it.
LOL

This quilt pattern is called "Between Charming Friends".
It is the "mini" version of "Between Friends".
Let me explain......

Darlene, from Quilting Daze designed and shared this
easy & fast pattern on her blog.

You can find the pattern here: Between Friends

Then in June Kelly from Cotton Charm Quilts
did a "mini" version for her Quilt Along.

I was working on the large one and just had to stop

and make the smaller one.

Be sure to visit Darlene and Kelly.

You won't be disappointed.

Their blogs are full of beautiful quilts and inspiration.

Kelly has an online quilt shop with great prices.

You may remember this next fabric combination.
This is going to be twin size with the borders.

The photos didn't turn out so great.
Poor lighting. I waited to long in the day to shoot.
My granddaughters will be sharing a room so I thought both
quilts would be cute in there.

And now for a little chocolate break.

Oh my, doesn't it look moist & yummy?
As my friend Kathie said "to die for".
She found this recipe in a Gooseberry Patch cookbook
and just had to share.

Click on the recipe to enlarge.

Some friends and I are
forming a new quilt guild in town.
It's taken a lot of time and work to get the ball rolling.
Our first meeting is this week.
We're not sure if 10 or 100 ladies will join us.
If you live in the area check us out.

Well, I'm off to enjoy the fresh, not to humid, air.
It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

Hugs,

A Little Bit of Everything

First off, let me start by saying,

thank you

for all the wonderful comments and the personal emails.
I really appreciate your interest in my blog.

I hope I won't disappoint you.

Here is the information on my Redwork Basket quilt

so many of you asked about.

Aunt Bea's Parlor

Designed by Judy Reynolds

for Black Cat Creations.

Because we needed the quilt larger,

there are 42 embroidered blocks,

more than double of what the pattern called for.

Also, an 8" white border was added.

The fancy feather quilting and scrappy binding

adds to the vintage charm.

A close up of the block detail.

CHRISTMAS IN JULY!

Here are 2 customer Christmas quilts.

The snowman quilt is called

"Walking in a Winter Wonderland".

Notice the large outside border?
A beautiful holly print.

The embroidery block detail.

Fun free hand snowflakes.

In place of the usual Christmas theme motifs

my customer wanted feathers!

Especially in that wide border.

It's easier to see the quilting on the solid back.

I love when the back is as beautiful as the front.
I was thrilled to hear that this quilt was accepted into the

Quilt Expo in Madison this September.

Yeah Deb!!!!!

Here is Kathleen's "Seven Stars" quilt.
Her fabric choices make the simple star pattern so elegant looking.

I used gold metallic and a matching cranberry thread .

Her perfect piecing combined with the quilting won

Kathleen a BLUE RIBBON!

And 2nd place Viewer's Choice Award.
YEAH!!!!!

And now a little family news.

Our oldest grandson (13) is

"the greatest" ball player (just ask Grandma).

Whether it be basketball or baseball he loves the game.

And, as most 13 year olds, aspires to be a pro.

For the past 3 weeks his team played "tournament" ball.

Winning several games here in WI and then winning again in MI.

After MI on to Indiana for 4 days.

They won until the last day.

Unfortunately, the last game of the tournament they lost 5-3.

Here's my granddaughter and her Mom watching the game.

The team was so looking forward to traveling to

North Carolina to play in the play off games.

We're so proud of the team and their coaches!!

Oh, did I mention my son is one the coaches????

Look at those cute "grand baby" faces.

Not a bad picture considering it was taken on a camera phone.

My youngest son, his baby boy and PaPa (hubby) drove to IN to cheer the team on.

It was tooooo hot for this Grandma!

Well, I'm off next week to the Milwaukee Long Arm Quilt Show.

I'm taking classes for 2 days

in hopes that some of the talent rubs off on me!

Have a wonderful week!

Hugs,

What a Surprise!

Oh, what a surprise to come home last night and
find over 75 emails in my inbox!
75!
My first thought, I've been "spammed".
Then I realized
Anne Sutton from Bunny Hill Designs
had posted about my give away on her blog.
A real-live celebrity had visited my blog!
C-leb-ber-ty, oh my, heart be still.
Thank you sooooo much Anne.
I'm honored.

A Warm Welcome, to all my new friends.
It is so nice to meet you.
I hope to hop over to your blogs and say hello soon.

It took me awhile to get my list ready for the drawing.
My hubby did the honors.
Drum Roll Please..................

Carolyn (Lee Prairie)
I wish I could send each and everyone of you something!

Denise (Count it *all* Joy)
Ladies, please send me an email with your
address and I will get your gifts in the mail
on Wednesday.

I want to show you my Vintage Baskets quilt top-
minus the borders. I'm still giving those some thought.
Not sure what I want to do.
I'm going to use my left over reds, creams & whites to piece
together my chain blocks for Snowbound.
I love scrappy quilts.
The more fabrics the better.

And this is my next project.
"Over the River and Through the Woods"
(Crab-apple Hill) in Fall colors.
I'm on the 2 year plan.
A year to stitch and piece, another year to get it quilted.
My quilts are always the last to get quilted.

I must confess.
I'm a "ONE TRICK PONY".
After years of counted cross stitch,
embroidery, candle wicking (showing my age with that one).
I've decided that:

1. I don't like to change thread colors. I'm lazy.
2. I love to do what I call the stem stitch.
Easier for me to keep the stitches even. I'm terrible at the back stitch.
3. I love Perle cotton #8 in place of floss. No twisting & knotting.
4. I want it to be "mindless" so I can stitch watching TV or a movie
and feel I'm not wasting my time completely.
5. And did I mention, I'm getting lazy in my old age?

It's hotter than blazes here.
But at least you don't have to shovel heat.

Hugs, and thanks again.

150th Post Give Away!

Can you believe it?
150 posts.
Hard to believe I had that much to write.
Let alone lovely friends who read them.
To let you know how much I appreciate the time
you take to stop in and visit
I'd like to give you some of my time.
After all, isn't that what life's all about?
Time.

I am going to give away a set of
SnowBound Red Work blocks.
The last 5 blocks will be mailed out monthly
as they become available.
The winner will have enough blocks for a
QUILT
by the end of the year!

This is a free BOM from Bunny Hill Designs.
Check it out....cute, huh?

To enter the drawing, just leave a comment.
If you are a "follower", or become a follower,
let me know and I will enter your name twice.

And please, don't be shy,
post about my give away on your blog
and I will enter you in a special drawing
for a set of hand crocheted edged
pink pillowcases.

That's 3 chances to WIN!

The drawing is noon Saturday, July 24th.

** Sorry I have to change the drawing date**

I'm heading out of town to play Grandma,

and won't be back til Sunday.

For sure, Monday morning I'll post the winner!

Thanks again for stopping in.
I really-really appreciate your time.

Hugs,

A Girl!

This is the little bundle of love we've been waiting for!

Mommy and Piper are so happy to finally meet in person.

I do believe it is heaven on earth to cuddle a newborn baby!

More to follow........

Hugs, Karen

Baby Watch

I've been on "Baby Watch" for the past 10 days.
My bags are packed, handwork ready for the waiting room,
cookies baked (grandparents need nourishment).

We did have a "false alarm" on Sunday
or
"trial run" as I like to think of it!

The suspense is killing me!
Daddy & Mommy decided
NOT to find out the sex of the baby.
Healthy is their prayer.

I've been quilting like crazy.
I'll have a quilt show for you
as soon as this grandbaby (#7) is born.

Also, coming up
**recipe for a ice cream dessert that will make you scream
**my 150th post give away



Have a safe and Happy 4th of July L-o-n-g Weekend!

Sharing Your Gift

"What you are is God's gift to you,
what you do with yourself is your gift to God."
Leo Buscaglia


I want to introduce you to a very special young man.
His name is Christopher.
Christopher's gift is his voice.
He loves to sing for the residents of the local nursing home.
And records books for those who can no longer see the written word.
Here he is sharing his gift with us at
his high school graduation party.

And I want to share his uplifting gift with you.

Enjoy.

Farmer's Market Heaven

Is this not the cutest dang book you've ever seen?

Written in 1965.
Calling home the Grand Forks Library.
It still has the due date envelope on the back inside cover.
Remember those?
After I read the first page I thought maybe they were talking about me!
A steal at $1.50.
Can't wait to read it to my grandbabies.

Check out this Farmer's Market
Year 1954.
Notice the ladies in their house dresses.
Not a pair of jeans to be found.

We went to our local market Saturday morning.
The weather was beautiful.
The people friendly, the coffee hot.
Fresh veggies on the grill for dinner.

I just HAD to buy some "just picked this morning" strawberries.
The neighbor gave me fresh rhubarb and this is what I came up with.

This is soooo good with vanilla ice cream.
Click on the recipe to enlarge for better reading.

Going to Green Bay this weekend for a graduation party.
All the grandbabies will be there.
I love when they (all 5) yell "Grandma-Grandma look at me"